Big Picture
These books all combined form story on an entire astrological age on this planet, beginning with the impact of Odet at the time of J'ham, and ending with the death of J'ham's reincarnation at the end of Many Kingdoms (Maybe the saga should be called "Age of Odet"? just an idea). The Books are listed in order of which books are written, and the numbers in parentheses correspond with the order they take place in time. Things to expand on: Mckenna wiz's role, Al-garul's role, solons role after dhul incident, and roles of other species. Many Kingdoms (4) Not 100 percent sure about everything in this book, (Oliver, you should write this section lol) but at some point Nefetti's true intentions are revealed. his apparent hatred of j'ham was because j'ham is a symbol of the current age, and the age was said by wizards to be a time with excessive patriotism, feudal practices, imperialm, and classism. So attempting to destroy j'ham was futile but still an honest gesture, his meddling with Dhul was because he knew he would become the dread necromancer and eventually swallow J'hams reincarnation in the next age. thus putting an end to all the chaos, and allowing for a coming golden age once the necromancer is eventually defeated. J'ham and Friends (1) The city of Jo-Lut is in the far east of the continent and is ruled by the wizard king Nefetti, who organized an empire centuries before the storys beginning. The city is chill, mostly communal, and people work hard to maximize efficiency. Many people in the world however have not migrated to the paradise city to assimilate and still live in tribes, some nomadic and some static. One nomadic tribe is the home of J'ham the Anointed. He was adored by two wizards (Mckenna wiz and some other wiz) at his birth who were just "passing through town". they are present during his birth and maybe leave some gifts. The people in the tribe speculate about this as a sign of the child's reverence and he is pampered in his youth. J'ham grows into an honest and wise young adult and by this time he is the founder of brand new solar religion and he is seen by many tribesman as a prophet. At this time Nefetti begins a military showdown with the nomadic tribes around the city forcing them to assimilate, but with the secret purpose of wiping out J'ham and any trace he could leave (his motives are not revealed until Many Kingdoms and so he should be seen as kind of villainous until then). One of Nefettis troops does a serious shakedown on J'hams tribe and manage to kill a majority of people, including his father. J'ham is taken prisoner but he uses his "tricks" to disguise himself to avoid further danger. at this time he meets many orphaned children who become his close apostles. J'ham and some of his apostles are then sold as slaves to a local leek farm and they spread the solar religion to the other slaves. J'ham then has a dream where a great force named Odet speaks to him and tells him he is on a course for Earth (or whatever) and when he comes, it will be the beginning of a new age. J'hams apostles want to revolt violently against the Wizard King, but J'ham promises over and over that if they have faith it will happen without intervention, but not telling them about his secret dream about Odet (but the readers still know). Word somehow reaches Nefetti that J'ham is still alive and in hiding, and the king is determined to find him and burn him at the stake. Eventually Nefettis's troops find him and bring him to the City dungeon, while several of his apostles continue to secretly work in secret to attempt a coup, and at the climax of all of this J'ham looks up out the window of his cell and sees a comet and immediately recognizes it as Odet. The comet strikes and story ends Comet (2) Comet needs a lot of work, but so far there is a gunslinger that travels across the wastelands doing good deeds and and maybe even solving some mysteries in settlements she passes through. she sees a white owl periodically and it becomes like her silent friend (though its a symptom of being abducted). and maybe she makes some real friends that travel with her along the way. eventually she understands that there's something going on, and through meditation some of her abduction experiences are revealed to her (and finally the reader). after she realizes the truth of whats been happening to her (and that the owl wasn't real), the fear sets in. and she is too scared to fall asleep at night and is constantly looking over her shoulder. then one final time she is abducted and not returned until Many Kingdoms. While this is happening, some groups of travelers from different ethnicity's and tribes around the continent looking for a brighter future convene and attempt to forge an empire. maybe the gunslinger is one of these people. they have internal power struggles and so forth, and several people start an esoteric (maybe Masonic-like) club within the convening groups with long term plans to manipulate events in the future to benefit themselves and they're families. many of these people are of a middle-eastern looking race, and most of them are of the house Al-Garul. Counts and Badlands (3) this is the background before the story starts: after the empire has existed for several generations, solon marrys a slave girl from the northen reed fields who was taken captive after her tribe was on the loosing end of a battle against the imperial settlements up north. Her and the count rule over Barzakh for a while and they end up having the child Mar-Lok. For *non-political reason* the marraige doesnt work out and she moves back to the riverlands this time as a matriarch/Priestess, though the two stay in touch. Mar-Lok stays behind to live in the castle but is too young to make the decision on his own. Solon immediately remarries some *Bundu Princess* and they have the child Dhul. and so the "Counts and badlands" book starts like 15 years or so after that: At this time Nefetti is not well liked by civilized folk in the empire, he is an important character in the J'ham religion and is seen as villainous. though, he is well liked by tribesmen and people outside the border and he is able to travel in this area with ease. His abandoned keep is outside the empires borders and he chills there most of the time, looking into his crystal ball. One day he looks into his crystal ball and sees something amazing, though the readers don't know what it is. The vision causes him to travel by elephant to the border of the empire where he continues on foot, to Solon's castle in Barzakh, Here he tells the old count that his son Dhul is to marry, but he does not reveal his intentions or the reason for this to happen. Nefetti then takes a lump of Incense from a fold in his cloak and lights it on fire, he tells Solon that he will return to help him with the marriage when the incense burns out. The Count keeps this information to himself and when the incense burns out Nefetti returns. When the wizard returns he tell Solon that his son is to marry a princess from "Long province" (pretty much just a random province and a random princess, definitely something that needs more thought) and it is to happen in the coming months, he tells Solon that he has arranged for him to take a trip with his two sons to "Long Province" to stay with the count, Nefetti then disappears and remains elusive for the remainder of the book. Meanwhile, King Bundu has his eye on the "Northernmost Province" and the drug Sampanok that grows in the reed fields there. The drug is very popular in the empire and the king wants to infiltrate the business by sending his brother (and head of the highest order of knights), Buku, undercover to the reed fields to infiltrate the business. While staying there he learns that the drug, while dangerous, is important to the culture of the riverlands. and rituals concerning harvest and planting are big social events hosted by the community's high priestess. The priestess that Buku meets is Solons ex-wife. Her strong personality and openess, along with her potent sexual presence causes Buku to fall in love with her. Buku feels like his mission is wrong and not best for the people. So instead of infiltrating politics he continues to stay undercover and pursue things with the Priestess. on his next trip to the capital he gives his brother a sample of sampanok and the king becomes addicted. he becomes lethargic and generally unresponsive, aside from ridiculous mutterings. but he is no longer in a condition to notice Buku's tampering. Solon and his sons are staying in the capital of "Long Province" and the princess hits it off better with Mar-Lok than Dhul. everyone hangs out on the beach and plays fancy beach games and eats rare seafood, while there's intense sexual, and jealous vibes going around between everyone. Mar-Lok and the princess have an affair on the trip and end up falling in love. After they return to Barzakh they send letters to each other constantly. Dhul finds a letter somehow and his jealousy gets out of hand. he accuses his father and brother of conspiring. and ends up killing the Count. at the end of the ordeal he castrates himself and puts his nads in a leek and leaves it for Mar-Lok to find. Mar-Lok is traumatized but is still the heir to Castle Zaebos after his fathers death. Dhuls wound is cauterized, but he is still in serious pain and critical condition. he slumps over the back of a mule and travels out into the wastelands where he pretty much expects to die, but instead he passes out and wakes up in a small cuboid room with red marble walls. one room leads to another and after several traps, monsters, and riddles he makes his way to a cathedral type room with stained glass windows with infinite grey mist outside them. In this room two imps guard a pile of skulls or something shaped into a throne, and on it is a figure in a long robe, whose identity is never revealed (but maybe there's some subtle implications that its Nefetti). The figure offers the exhausted Dhul immortality or something in exchange for his flesh and unyielding devotion to chaos and anarchy.